Vikings rookie linebacker Jasper Brinkley likes to deliver some hurt with his hits

Brinkley likes to add some hurt to his hits

Even before he joined South Carolina's coaching staff in January 2008, Ellis Johnson was aware of Gamecocks middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley.

In August 2006, when Johnson was the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State, Brinkley buried Bulldogs quarterback Michael Henig with a bone-shattering blow.

"I really think that was the most physical hit I've seen," recalled Johnson, now the Gamecocks' assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. "I knew he was a very physical player."

Johnson said Brinkley, whom the Vikings selected in the fifth round of this year's NFL draft, is quiet off the field — "he's not a big hollerer," Johnson said — but he asserts himself on a football field.

"I'm humble, down to Earth," Brinkley said. "But between the lines, I'm a different type of person. Totally different person."

Take his recollection of the play Johnson mentioned.

"He was scrambling, and I had secondary contain," Brinkley said. "In my head I was thinking, 'Come on. Come on.' Once he crossed the line, I knew there was no turning back. And I brought the pain."

Brinkley slammed into Henig with his right shoulder, prompting the quarterback to spin and crumple to the turf. Ironically, it was Brinkley who took himself out of the game, favoring his right shoulder, while Henig got back up.

But Henig broke his collarbone on the play, and the Gamecocks shut out the Bulldogs 15-0.

Asked if he was trying to hit Henig hard, Brinkley said, "Oh yeah, I definitely was.

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Being a linebacker, you want to strike fear in your opponents."

Brinkley feels his job is to patrol the field and intimidate opposing players.

"I love to hit a guy and look him in his eyes and just see the fear in him," Brinkley said. "It brings me great joy."

Brinkley's tackling is what impressed Vikings coach Brad Childress and the team's scouting department. He also has good size (6 feet 2, 257 pounds) and speed (4.67 seconds in the 40-yard dash).

"That's a big linebacker that I thought was one of the better tacklers in the draft," Childress said Friday. "I mean, he smothers you when he tackles you. He runs through you."

The Vikings could have used someone like that last season, when starting middle linebacker E.J. Henderson was lost for the season after just four games because of two dislocated toes. Undrafted rookie David Herron and special-teams player Vinny Ciurciu struggled to fill the void, and the Vikings were forced to re-sign Napoleon Harris, who had been released by the Kansas City Chiefs.

Though Henderson is expected to be his old self, the Vikings wanted to shore up the depth behind their Pro Bowl-caliber middle linebacker.

Rated a potential first- or second-round pick before suffering a lateral collateral ligament tear in his right knee in September 2007, Brinkley was available in the early portion of the fifth round, and the Vikings moved up eight spots, giving up a seventh-round pick to the Washington Redskins, to get him.

Brinkley acknowledged his knee injury "scared a lot of teams," but he said he felt he regained his speed during the second half of last season.

What about the first half?

Brinkley did just fine, although he wasn't in optimal shape, after spending two months in a wheelchair with his right leg in a cast from his heel to his hip.

His weight shot up to 280 pounds, about 22 pounds heavier than his playing weight in his first two seasons, and he was 275 when the 2008 season started.

"I played on raw ability," he said.

By season's end, the Gamecocks counted on him to blitz and man the middle of the field.

"He had to overcome a lot of things," Johnson said, "but he had an outstanding senior season."

Brinkley is down to 257 now, and he hopes the Vikings' strength and conditioning coaches can help him shed another dozen pounds and perhaps increase his speed.

He is thrilled to play behind Henderson, a player he admires, and he is ready to help on special teams, which he played all four years at South Carolina.

"I just have to be able to seize the moment," Brinkley said. "I feel I can do that."